


In the Water

by DktrAgonizer



Category: Boys in the Trees
Genre: Alternate Ending, Gen, Nobody is Dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-17 15:32:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12368718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DktrAgonizer/pseuds/DktrAgonizer
Summary: Alternate end where Jonah lives, because I demanded of the world to give him a happy ending.





	In the Water

_"Turn around."_

He didn't understand at first. There was something in the water, red, like Jonah's hoodie. But Jonah was right...

"Jonah?" Corey turned, but Jonah wasn't beside him anymore. He whirled around to look at the thing in the water, and it didn't make any sense, it didn't  _make any sense_ but it clicked. A strangled "Oh my god" escaped his lips and before he could even think, he was already diving into the water.

He reached him within moments. It was Jonah. It was Jonah, facedown in the water, unmoving. "No," Corey said, taking the limp body into his arms. "No, no, no,  _no._ " He had to move, he had to get to shore. Jonah couldn't be dead, he  _couldn't_ be, he'd been with him all night.  _Walking with a ghost_ , he thought. It was the only explanation for the stuff they'd seen in the past hour. But no, no, it wasn't going to end like this. He wouldn't let it end like this.

It scared him, how little effort it took to drag Jonah's body ashore. Jonah had always been small, but  _god_ he was so light. Corey's hands were shaking as he pulled the mask from Jonah's face and flung it away. His heart hammered in his throat as he took in Jonah's face; he looked dead, and he wasn't sure it was only because of the makeup. "Oh god. Jonah, please," he whispered. He put his ear to Jonah's chest and waited for what felt like ages, praying to hear the telltale beating of a heart. There was nothing but silence.

CPR. He had to resuscitate him. Corey tilted Jonah's head back and pinched his nose shut.  _Please_ , he thought as he lowered his mouth to Jonah's and began to blow. Two seconds, then he laced his fingers together and laid them over Jonah's chest.  _Please,_ he thought again, counting off the compressions under each breath.  _Don't leave me. Come back._

Corey was vaguely aware that he was crying, tears streaming down his cheeks as he cycled between giving breath and giving compressions. Everything around him was gone; it was just Jonah and himself. Nothing else mattered.

During the third round of compressions, it happened. Jonah's head jerked and he coughed, hard. With a sob of relief, Corey lifted him into a sitting position and embraced him, arms tight as Jonah's head bent and he coughed up the water in his lungs. "Thank god." He let out a noise, somewhere between a sob and a laugh, and pressed his forehead down against the top of Jonah's head. He was still coughing, and god it sounded painful, but it also sounded wonderful because it meant  _he was alive._

"I'm sorry," Corey said, voice shaking with the stress and fear of the last several minutes. "I'm sorry, Jonah, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry."

Jonah's hands came up to grip one of the arms around his body. His head was still bent, but his coughing finally gave way to gasps. "Corey," he said after a moment, and his voice sounded as shaky as Corey's did. "I'm okay. I'm okay."

"I thought you were dead." Corey squeezed his eyes shut, head sliding to rest on Jonah's shoulder instead. "I thought..."

Jonah let out a soft noise that could have been a laugh. "I wouldn't leave you."

Corey couldn't say anything else. He could only sob, with fear and with relief, and god he didn't want to let him go. If he did, Jonah might disappear again, might go back to the water -  _turn around_ \- and he couldn't do this again, he couldn't, he  _couldn't._

Seconds turned into minutes, and Jonah's gasps finally subsided. He was limp in Corey's arms again, but this time with exhaustion, not lifelessness. "Corey," he said eventually, breaking the relative silence. "I think I'd like to go home now."

He still didn't want to move. "Okay," he said, but his arms stayed wrapped tight around his friend.

There was another brief silence, then: "The game's over. Can you still walk me back?"

_The game's over._ It was such a bizarre thing to hear from somebody who'd just been on the verge of death. But of course Jonah would still be thinking about the game. "I will," he said, and his arms finally dropped away. The both of them stood on shaky legs; Corey had to grip Jonah's shoulder to keep from stumbling, and that in itself was funny. It should've been the other way around. "I'm not leaving you again, Jonah." Jonah gave him a searching gaze and raised a hand to brush a wet mop of hair back from his face. "I promise," Corey added, and a smile broke across the smaller boy's face.

"Thank you."

They walked home together, side by side, close enough for their arms to be touching. Something in Jonah's face told Corey he didn't expect to be here, to be alive. He'd expected to be dead, to  _stay_ dead. It was a miracle he was here, walking with him, breathing and his heart beating. And none of it made any sense, but Corey didn't question it. As long as his friend was alive, nothing else mattered.

He was going to keep his promise. No matter what, he wouldn't leave Jonah again.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you liked this, please let me know your thoughts!


End file.
